Editorial Guidelines

Gippslandia’s editorial standards and our ethical guidelines for telling local community stories.

OWNERSHIP & ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Gippslandia is a not-for-profit, community publication that aims to ‘leave you feeling like a Gippslandia local, no matter where you’re from’.

Gippslandia’s physical and digital presence comprises of a quarterly newspaper, website, social media, merchandise and events.

Gippslandia will keep its outlook directed up – promoting stories of success and innovation, seeding ideas for positive change and spreading the upside of life in Gippsland. Its content is created, updated and fact-checked by a committed team and distributed freely in outlets throughout Gippsland and into Melbourne.

Gippslandia currently monetises its reach via print advertising, branded content, e-commerce and live events.

Gippslandia is headquartered in Buln Buln, Victoria, but has amazing contributors Gippsland-wide.

Gippslandia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, the GunaiKurnai people, and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

ETHICS POLICY
Gippslandia maintains a high ethical standard.

If you see anything on our site that you think is incorrect or wrong, let us know at info@gippslandia.com.au.

Feedback from our readers is welcome and appreciated. We will immediately remove anything which is factually inaccurate, offensive or unethical. Any substantive corrections will be clearly flagged. However, independent journalism is essential to our mission: We do not alter opinions on request.

EDITORIAL MISSION
Gippslandia’s mission is to reveal optimistic tales that may otherwise remain unheard. Each edition will feature stories that examine opportunities, businesses, people, food, travel, fashion, art and culture. In doing so, we wish to showcase the many writers, photographers and creative talents that reside in the area.

We wish to present you with ideas that could assist in transitioning Gippsland into a more attractive destination for local, interstate and international business and tourism

SHOULD YOU HAVE AN EDITORIAL COMPLAINT – PLEASE VISIT OUR COMPLAINTS POLICY.

CONTROVERSY
Gippslandia does not endorse any particular political party, candidate or agenda. It primarily documents the region we live, Gippsland.

Gippslandia does not recommend or endorse illegal, cruel, hateful or exploitative activities. It has a no-tolerance policy for such activities or any organisation that uses exploitative tactics toward children, animals, First Nation people, marginalised communities and so on.

DIVERSITY
Gippslandia strives for a diversity of voices and experiences both in what and who we cover, and who we hire.

TRANSPARENCY & INTEGRITY
Gippslandia primarily creates independent editorial content. We are always transparent if our content is anything other than our own expert opinion (see Paid Content, below).

OPPOSITION TO EDITORIAL CORRUPTION
We do not accept payment or receive gifts in exchange for our editorial content. Our journalists do attend press events and occasionally arrange for complimentary tickets and experiences with PR representatives. However, we always ensure our coverage of these experiences is independent.

If you think a conflict of interest has occurred, please email info@gippslandia.com.au and we will investigate promptly.

ATTRIBUTION & SOURCES
The content on our site comes from our community of writers and is attributed as such in our bylines. If there is content on our site that comes from another outside source, we will always attribute that information to whatever publisher or source it comes from.

COMMERCIAL CONTENT
Gippslandia’s editorial recommendations are independent. Its journalism is never influenced by advertisers; commercial content is clearly labelled. Commercial content is funded by advertisers. It is compliant with our own ethical policy. Our funded content falls into two categories:

Branded/advertorial content:
This is content which Gippslandia’s editorial team makes, acting as a creative studio for a commercial partner. It is controlled by our editorial team, which ensures it upholds our values and editorial standards. Both Gippslandia and the client have sign-off.

Advertising:
This is space on in our newspaper that is sold to a client. The client uses this space to convey their own message. This is controlled by our sales team and Gippslandia has no input into it – the only instances where we’d intervene is if we think it’s inappropriate for our readers or to enhance the visual attributes of the advertisement with the client’s direction. Ads are not labelled but they are easy to recognise – they don’t look like Gippslandia content.

PLAGIARISM
At Gippslandia, we define plagiarism as any content not created originally by our editors or expert writers specifically for Gippslandia’s use. We have a no-tolerance policy for plagiarised content and always attribute as necessary.

SYNDICATION & LICENSING
If you wish to syndicate or reproduce Gippslandia’s content (including photography, videography, text or archived magazines) then contact us at info@gippslandia.com.au.

Otherwise, No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise.

FACTUAL ACCURACY
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publishers assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or any consequences of reliance on this publication.